A Global Distribution System (GDS) is a data processing system that provides processing and database functions which facilitate management of travel related services from multiple providers. User systems may connect to and use the GDS to search for, price, book, purchase, and use travel related services, such as flights, hotel rooms, or car rentals. To provide these management functions, the GDS relies on a centralized database to keep track of travel services that have been reserved, booked, and/or used by the traveler. This centralized database is often referred to as a Passenger Name Record (PNR) database, and stores a collection of database records (i.e., PNRs) that include data fields containing information about travelers and their itineraries.
To manage the sale and use of a travel service, the GDS will typically communicate with a computer system operated by the provider of the travel service. For example, the GDS may interact with a Computerized Reservation System (CRS) operated by an airline, a hotel, or a car rental company to manage the sale and use of the travel services identified in the PNR. For this reason, the GDS is limited to managing travel services from a few large providers that have a CRS or other suitable system capable of interfacing with the GDS.
A destination service provider is a company that provides travel services locally at a destination. Destination service providers typically possess specific knowledge relating to the traveler's destination and/or expertise in providing a specialized service at the destination. In some cases, a traveler may wish to book a travel service from a destination service provider. However, assuming the destination service provider maintains a computer system for reserving services at all, these systems are unable to communicate with the GDS or access PNRs due to standardization constraints, to protect sensitive information stored in the PNR, and for security reasons. Thus, a travel agent or a traveler booking a trip including a service from a destination service provider will not be able to use the centralized management functions provided by the GDS, or add a record to the PNR for managing a full travel itinerary that includes a service provided by a destination service provider.
The inability to manage destination service provider services using the GDS may create several problems for the travel agent or the traveler. For example, the GDS search engine may lack access to destination service provider information, making it difficult for the system user to identify a desired service. If the system user manages to identify the service, for destinations in foreign locations, differences between the language used by the system user and the language used by the destination service provider may hinder booking of the destination travel service. In cases where the system user identifies and books the service, the user will still be unable to use the GDS or the centralized record keeping provided by the PNR to manage the service as part of a complete itinerary.
Thus, improved systems, methods, and computer program products are needed that improve the ability to search for, reserve, price, book, and track the use of travel services provided by destination service providers.